'Mafia State' semi-medievalism - US journalist detained

   On day 400 of Russia's Ukraine invasion, Russian authorities say they've arrested an American journalist on allegations of espionage, a charge that has a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. The Wall Street Journal's Evan Gershkovich, 31, was arrested after speaking to someone inside a restaurant in Yekaterinburg, which is in the eastern Ural Mountains north of Kazakhstan and about 1,100 miles southeast of Moscow; his employer says he's being detained until at least May 29. The New York Times says he's "believed to be the first American reporter to be held as an accused spy in Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union."

Earlier this week, Gershkovich co-authored a report on the declining state of Russia's economy, quoting one oligarch who said, "There will be no money next year" at least partly due to what Gershkovich described as "ballooning military expenditures" in the face of unprecedented Western sanctions resulting from Russia's Ukraine invasion.  

For the record, the Journal denies the allegations against Gershkovich. A Kremlin spokesman, however, claimed he was "caught red-handed," but did not elaborate. Russia's spy service, the FSB, released a statement saying Gershkovich was "acting on the instructions of the American side, [and] collected information constituting a state secret about the activities of one of the enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex."


Expert reax: Russia appears to have again resorted to hostage-taking as a tool of statecraft, scholar Mark Galeotti wrote on Twitter on Thursday after hearing the news. However, he added, "On reflection, it's not so much the act of a state as a bandit gang." What's even more "deeply worrying and depressing," Galeotti said, "is how quickly and eagerly Russia which, for all the cheap characterizations as a 'Mafia State' was actually something rather more complex, is being dragged into semi-medievalism by Putin and his thugs…And meanwhile poor Evan is presumably going to sit in prison until a swap with (real) spies can be arranged."

Historical echo: Trace the similarities and differences between Gershkovich's arrest and the 1986 arrest of U.S. journalist Nicolas Daniloff in an explanatory Twitter thread from Mark Krutov of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

One big difference today? There are no known high-profile Russians in U.S. custody with which to arrange a prisoner swap. The European Union may have a possible candidate or three, Krutov and the investigative outlet Bellingcat both noted; but it's impossible to know how the Kremlin will proceed. Moscow's deputy foreign minister acknowledged the possibility of a swap on Thursday, saying, "Certain exchanges that took place in the past took place for people who were already serving sentences." But first, "Let's see how this story will develop," he said, according to state-run media Interfax.